How would you describe this drum beat?

I think it's all in 6/8, counted in 2, which gives it a swing feel.
The really cool thing about 6/8, is you can count it as 1, 2, 1, 2, etc., but then subdivide those 2 beats in half, essentially layering a 4/4 beat over top of the 6/8, or change it entirely. I think the guitars and drums are playing in the 6/8 swing feel, with every beat coming on one of the 6 beats, but the vocals are sung mostly in 4/4, with divisions relative to that time signature.
Listen to this. At about 3:26 Bill starts layering the 4/4 over the 6/8.


Dream Theater does a similar thing in New Millennium.

I don't know, if you listen to Eddie's strum if feels like 4/4 which would agree with @la noise.
 
Love this song and the movie. (the book was great too)
I think it's all in 6/8, counted in 2, which gives it a swing feel.
The really cool thing about 6/8, is you can count it as 1, 2, 1, 2, etc., but then subdivide those 2 beats in half, essentially layering a 4/4 beat over top of the 6/8, or change it entirely. I think the guitars and drums are playing in the 6/8 swing feel, with every beat coming on one of the 6 beats, but the vocals are sung mostly in 4/4, with divisions relative to that time signature.
Listen to this. At about 3:26 Bill starts layering the 4/4 over the 6/8.

It's Alan White, but yea, that drum part is really cool.
 
No. It's a simple swing beat, maybe played a bit behind/forward, but that's basically it.
It's played in triplets, so you can view it that way, essentially cutting each measure in half, but still hearing 4/4. That also agrees with the score posted.
 
The question is moot anyway so long as you can accurately notate it in either time signature. Maybe we need to ask Mr Vedder! :smiley::guitar:
 
It's played in triplets, so you can view it that way, essentially cutting each measure in half, but still hearing 4/4. That also agrees with the score posted.
The last 2 measures of that posted score aren't triplets. I completely understand how you can count it in 4 (or 2, like I said), instead of 6/8, which is what the songs feels like anyway because of the fast (relative to 6/8) tempo, but if you do, then everything written should be triplet-based, which those measures are not. That's why I said I don't see the notation as accurate.
 
I'd call it a folk/bluegrass shuffle in a 4/4 that has a 2/4 time feel. The strum pattern gives it a tuplet sense. I think it started as kind of like a Purdy shuffle sans cymbals and then was deconstructed all the way down to just claps, then built back up again.
 
PS: I'd be a wise-ass and play the riff "Sweet Child of Mine" over the verses.
A friend brought a recording of a gospel tune she liked that was written by one of her church ladies, and I played it on my guitar after learning the chords. She really freaked out when I started throwing on licks from The Cranberries' "Zombie", which had the same chord progression....
 
A friend brought a recording of a gospel tune she liked that was written by one of her church ladies, and I played it on my guitar after learning the chords. She really freaked out when I started throwing on licks from The Cranberries' "Zombie", which had the same chord progression....
Hah! Not sure if you're familiar with P&W, but there's a huge song, Revelation Song, that uses the same progression as Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World'. The guys over at Worship Tutorials pointed this out and had a bit of fun using the Ordinary World solo in there. Anyway, I did it in a worship service! Loved it, sounded great!
 
Just listened again, and the main beat is actually 1, 2, and of 3... (not the and of 4) which is part of what gives that weird feeling.
 
The drum beat isn't really swung at all. Maybe this mismatch/flamming between drums and (swung) guitar upstroke on the "and" of beat 3 is a thing you noticed.
 
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